Breadcrumbs

Commonwealth v. Mendes

Supreme Judicial Court (September 8, 2010)

A District Court judge or magistrate may issue a search warrant authorizing a search for evidence at any specified location in the Commonwealth, regardless of whether the criminal activity to which the warrant application pertains is located within or outside that court's territorial jurisdiction.

The defendant in this case appealed his convictions arguing that his motion to suppress the evidence was improperly denied because the District Court that issued the search warrant did not have proper territorial jurisdiction to do so.

The SJC affirmed the defendant's convictions ruling that, "all of the Commonwealth's statutes relating to the issuance of search warrants by a District Court make clear by their language that the only territorial limitation placed on a District Court authority to issue a search warrant is the geographical boundary of the Commonwealth and its territorial waters."